Bead-positioning device.



1.'F.BBADLEY. Y BEAD POSITIONING DEVlCE.

APFUCATION FILED JULY i4 19H.

Patented oct.' 2, 191:7;

, 'IN-VENTOR.

` /Zfdal WITNESSES.- 6 je 'TTORNEYS. r

JAMES FRANCIS BRADLEY, 0F WEST SPRINGFIELD, MASSACHUSETTS, ASSGNG@ THE FISK RUBBER COMPANY, OIE CHCOPEE FALLS, MSSCHUSETTS, .dii QEPE TION OF MASSACHUSETTS.

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if 'Specification of Xietters Eatent.

Appli/cauce sied-my ia, 1917. serial No. ieaeia To all whom it may concern.'

Be it known that I, JAMES FRANCIS Besn- Lier, a citizen of the United States of America, residing at West Springfield, in the county of Hampden and State of Massachusetts, have invented certain new and useful improvements in Bead-Positioning De vices, of which the following lis a specilication. f.

This invention Vrelates generally to tire building machines and more particularly to an improved meansfor machines of lthis character, whereby the bead rings may `be applied and accurately positioned vrelatively to the body of the tire.

In the manufacture of tire shoes, the genieral practice is to form the tire upon a suity able core ring ,which is removably land rotatably mounted in the machine.l The tire shoe is built upon the core and subsequently the core ring with the shoe thereon isremoved from the machine and-placed in a mold wherein the shoe is vulcanized. The first step in building up the shoe consists in applying one or more layers of fabric, previously skim coated or saturated with rubber, to the core. Thebead rings are then placed on the partially formed shoe and thereafter other layers of rubberized fabric are applied. The usual outer struc ture of the shoe is then formed and the shoe Y is ready for vulcanization.

During the building of the shoe, various tire making tools, mounted on a revoluble turret, are brought successively into operation onthe partially formed shoe on the core ring, setting devices. accurately positioned in' true concentrical relation with the tire shoe particularly with the tread portionthereof, for the bead rings constitute the means for attaching the shoe to a rim and also must properly lit into recesses in a tire mold during the vulcanization of the shoe. The difficulty encountered' in a machine of the character describedis in accurately centering the core ring on its driving shaft, for ,with the ordinary bead setting tools,.unless the core is exactly. concentric with its shaft, the bead ring will be eccentrically positioned on the tire shoe.

This invention has for its object hto provide a bead positioning tool, particularly .adapted for use in tire building machines,

including bead positioning and' The bead rings must be which has, in addition to bead positioning and sett-ing means, a guiding device adapted to ride upon* the tread portion of the partially formed shoe and hold the said means `ata constant distance from the tread portion, sothat the bead is located in true concentrical relation with the tread portion of the shoe without necessitating accurateconcentricalpositioning of the core ring with relation to itsl driving shaft.

Other objectsan'd advantages will appear rateaeea oet. e, reir.-

in the following description and will be particularly pointed out, in theJ appended' claims. v l

rlhe invention, in an embodiment at pres' ent preferred, is shown for illustrative purm poses in the accompanying drawings, in which-' Figurel l is a fragmentary plan view of a tire building machine embodying the improved bead positioning device;

. Fig. 2 is a front elevational view thereof;

Fig. 3 is an enlarged fragmentary plan View with parte in section; and v Fig. 4 is a detail sectional view illus trative of the mounting of the bead positioning device.

Referring to these drawings in detail, A

represents the frame of a tire building inachine. The latter includes a horizontally arranged shaft b which is suitably supported in frame A. and adapted to be driven in any-suitable manner, usually at varying v speeds as desired by the operator. llieeiid of shaft b is arranged to removably support an annular core ring c, which may be of any suitable type, the external configura* tion of ring c corresponding to the desired internal lconfiguration of the tire shoe to be formed thereon.' Ring c is removably supported from shaft by a suitable expansible clutching mechanism d. The latter has been illustrated in conventional form merely and further illustration and descrip` vtion of the mechanism is thought unnecessary to an understanding of the invention', as such mechanisms are generally well knownin the art. Y

' liaterally spaced from shaft I) is a carringe c which is mounted for horizontal sliding movementon .frame and muy be moved toward or away from the periphery of the core o by a hand wheel f and other suitable parts (not shown) in the usual known manner. Rotatably mounted on a stud g Afrom the carriage e is a turret 7L and the center of stud g is arranged to lie in the -central vertical plane of the core ring c tool which is adapted to be removably sup ported upon the described turret 7L. Referring to Fig. 3, the tool Aconsists of a bent arm 5 and three rolls 6, 7 and 8 which are rotatablymounted on the arm, the latter having an integral lever portion 9. A vertical stnd 10 mounted on turret 7L is adapted to fit within a suitable hole adjacent the intersection of the arm and lever portions 5 and 9, respectively, to support the tool.-

Preferably, although not necessarily, the stud 10 is mounted for sliding movement on vthe turret to and from the core ring. For

example, the stud 10 may be mounted as shown in Fig. l, so that a portion thereof is slidable in a slot 11 in turret L. rThe stud has a head 12 thereon engageable with the under face of turret 7L and a collar 13 to engage the upper'face of the latter and support the stud. A spring 14:, arranged between head 12 and a lug depending from turret L, forces the stud and thus the tool thereon toward the core ring c.

lVhen the bead positioningv tool is supported from the turret, as shown in Figs. 1 -to 3, the roll 6 is adapted to ride centrally upon the outer periphery of the core ring c or more properly upon the partially formed tire shoe thereon, as will appear. rThe axis of roll 6 is arranged to lie in parallel rela-- tion with the axis of the described shaft Z2, and the axes of the latter and roll G lie in a common horizontal plane, in which the axes of rolls 7 and 8 also lie. The axes of the latter are arranged at right angles'to one another, the axis ofroll 8 being parallel l with that of roll 6. rl`he rolls T and 8 nearly touch at one point and forni a substantially square corner to receive a bead ring y', which is to be applied to a partially formed tire body l; on the core ring. c. The widths of rolls T and S are 'only slightly less than the lengths of the respective faces of the bead ring ,7' which they are adapted to engage.

In building up a tire shoe, a core ring c is'mounted upon shaft by means ofthe mechanism CZ in the usual manner. Foundalfmw 1mm-s of fabric 70, previously saturated mamie to thecore ring, as shown in Fig. 3, the layers being pressed to the core and adhering thereto. Having applied the foundation layers of fabric 7c, the bead j is then applied.

The bead, previously formed, is usually an endless annular ring of the cross sectional shape shown in Fig. 3.

,l In applying the bead ring the turret L 1s turned vinto the position shown in the usual known manner, and the bead positioning tool is placed on stud 10. With the tool positioned so that rollsl 7 and 8 are swung slightly away from the core ring 0, the operator places the bead in position upon the rolls. Then holding the bead ring so that it is approximately concentrical with the core ring, the lever 9 is moved to swing rolls 6, 7 and 8 into the posit-ion shown in Fig. 3. It is important to note that the operator may move lever 9 with his leg, hip, or body to force thebead j against the tire, thus leaving both hands free to hold the bead ring. The latter is sticky as is also the fabric 7c and the two`adhere w'itha sufficiently strong bond when the ring is forced against the fabric by rolls 7 and 8.

As soon as a small portion of the bead ring has been fastenedas described, the 4core ring c is rotated and, as the latter revolves, the operator maintains pressure on lever 9 so that the remaining portions of the bead ring are positioned and pressed to the fabric. As soon as the bead ring has been applied on one side of the fabric on core c, the tool is removed from stud 10, turned upside down, and replaced on the stud so that the other bead ring may be applied in a like manner.

It often happens that the core ring 0 is not in exact concentrical relation with shaft Z) and to insure that the bead ring j is applied in exact concentrical relation with the core ring irrespective of any eccentricity of the latter with relation to shaft b, the roll 6 is provided and formsthe principal feature of this invention. Since the bead rings constitute the means for attaching theltire shoe to its rim and since they must accurately fit within recesses in a. mold during the vulcanization of the tire, it is most desirable that the bead rings be accurately positioned, both in true concentrical relation with the tire shoe and at the 4proper radial vdistance from the tread of the latter. This is effectively accomplished by roll 6 which is always forced against the outer peripheral portion of the fabric 7e.

Preferably roll 6 is forced against the latter by .the described spring 14, although the spring need not necessarily be used;` although its broad function is necessary. For example, without the spring, the roll 6 could be moved to and fro, for the carriage e may have more or less playrela-V tivelyto 1the mechanism. operated by wheel pressure on lever 9 Which holds the roll in engagement with the fabric c. The eccentricity of the core ring relatively to shaft b is usually so smallY that the necessary .movement of stud 10 can be obtained as described Without the use of spring 14, although the latter is more desirable and accordingly the preferred construction.

It will thus be seen, that'as ring c is re'- volved, the roll 6 functions to automatically move the bead int-o eXact concentrical relation with the outer periphery of fabric 7c for the rolls 7 and 8 act together to press the bead to the fabric so that it adheres to the latter in theacc'urately locatedposition. The roll 6, riding on the fabric, constantly maintains rolls 7 and 8 in the desired position 'relatively to the tread portion of fabric Ze, as distinguished from a tool liXed on the turret with which inaccurate positioning of the bead ring would be obtained unless' the core ring is exactly centered on shaft Thus, an improved bead positioning tool for tirey building machines has been provided which is particularly characterized in that the rings may be accurately located in proper relation with the tread portion of the tire and which` is furthermore characterized in that the tool is conveniently operable to obtain the accurate positioning of the bead with littleeffort on the part of the operator.

The invention has been described in a preferred form for illustrative purposes, but the scope of the invention is dened by the appended claims rather than by the foregoing description.v

' WhatzI claim isl. In ia tire building machine, a revoluble ring core upon which the tirecarcass may be built, a support adjacent the core, means mounted on said support tol position and set the bead of the tire upon the carcass on said core, and a guiding device on said means to ride on the tread portion of the carcass and control the proper positioning of the bead with respect to the tread, so that the latter is placed in true concentrical relation with the tread portion of the tire. I

2. A tool-for use in rirc inakiiig'com-l prising, an arm, means thereon adapted to engage a tire bead, a guiding device adapted to rideon the tread portion of a partially formed tire shoe, and a lever to move said device and means, whereby the latter may be forced againstl the partially formed tire shoe to apply the bead thereto nnd said de vice may be held against the tread portion of the shoe to gage 'the positioning of the bead in proper relation therewith.

3. In a tire building machine, a removable and revoluble ring core upon which a tire carcass may be built, a turret adjacent said core, an arm movably mounted on the turret, means on the arm to position and set the bead of the tire upon the carcass on said core, a guide roll on the arm to ride on the tread portion of the carcass and a lever to force'said means and roll against the carcass, all constructed and arranged so that the roll controls the positioning of the bead, whereby the latter may be positioned bead setting rolls on the arm, and a leverl portion on the lattervto force said rolls toward the core, all constructed and arranged so that the bead is set in place on the partially formed tire shoe in true concentrical lrelation with the tread portion thereof. l

5. In a tire building machine, a revoluble ring core removably mounted therein, a-

turret adjacent the core, an arm removably mounted on the turret, bead setting devices on the arm, the latte-r being reversible so that said devices may be positioned on either side of'the core ring, a guide roll on the arm adapted to ride on the t'read portion of a partially formed tire slice on said core, and a lever portion to move said device toward the core to set the bead in position on the partially formed shoe, all constructed and arranged-so that said roll maintains said devices constant distance from the tread portion of the shoe, whereby the bea-d may be positioned in true concentrical relation with the tread portion.

6. In a tire building machine, a revoluble ring core upon which a tire carcass may be built, a turret adjacent the core, an arm inovably mounted on the turret, a guiding means on the arm to ride on the tread portion of the carcass, bead setting devices on the arm arranged to be held a constant distance from the tread portion by said means JAMES FRANCIS BRADLEY. 

